Tip turbine engine with reverse core airflow

ABSTRACT

A tip turbine engine provides increased efficiency while eliminating or reducing the number of axial compressor stages by moving the core airflow inlet aft of the fan. As a result, the core airflow entering the core airflow inlet is the fan exhaust, which is already at an increased pressure. A portion of the fan exhaust is guided radially inward, then axially forward and then radially outward through compressor chambers in the hollow fan blades for further, centrifugal compression.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/719,587 filed on May 17, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,096,753 which is a National Phase of PCT Application No. PCT/US2004/040067 filed on Dec. 1, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tip turbine engine, and more particularly to a tip turbine engine with a core airflow inlet aft of a bypass fan.

An aircraft gas turbine engine of the conventional turbofan type generally includes a forward bypass fan, a low pressure compressor, a high pressure compressor, a combustor, a high pressure turbine, and a low pressure turbine, all located along a common longitudinal axis. The low and high pressure compressors are rotatably driven to compress entering air to a relatively high pressure. This high pressure air is then mixed with fuel in the combustor, where it is ignited to form a high energy gas stream. This gas stream flows axially aft to rotatably drive the high pressure turbine, which rotatably drives the high pressure compressor via a high spool shaft. The gas stream leaving the high pressure turbine is expanded through the low pressure turbine, which rotatably drives the forward bypass fan and the low pressure compressor via a low spool shaft.

Although highly efficient, conventional turbofan engines operate in an axial flow relationship. The axial flow relationship results in a relatively complicated elongated engine structure of considerable longitudinal length relative to the engine diameter. This elongated shape may complicate or prevent packaging of the engine into particular applications.

A recent development in gas turbine engines is the tip turbine engine. Tip turbine engines include hollow fan blades through which core airflow flows, such that the hollow fan blades operate as centrifugal compressor chambers. Compressed core airflow from the hollow fan blades is mixed with fuel in an annular combustor, where it is ignited to form a high energy gas stream which drives the turbine that is integrated onto the tips of the hollow bypass fan blades for rotation therewith as generally disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos.: 20030192303; 20030192304; and 20040025490. The tip turbine engine provides a thrust-to-weight ratio at least equivalent to conventional turbofan engines of the same class, but within a package of significantly shorter length.

In some tip turbine engine designs, core airflow may be compressed by an axial compressor before entering the hollow fan blades for further, centrifugal compression. The axial compressor may include an axial compressor rotor with one or more stages of radially-extending compressor blades. Increasing the number of stages of compressor blades increases the compression of the core airflow and the efficiency of the engine, but increases the overall length and weight of the engine and the number of parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A tip turbine engine according to the present invention provides increased efficiency while eliminating or reducing the number of axial compressor stages by moving the core airflow inlet aft of the fan. As a result, the core airflow entering the core airflow inlet is the fan exhaust, which is already compressed by the fan. The fan exhaust is fed axially forward and then radially outward through compressor chambers in the hollow fan blades for further, centrifugal compression.

The tip turbine engine may optionally include an axial compressor between the core airflow inlet and the compressor chambers in the hollow fan blades. However, in contrast to axial compressors that are located forward of a bypass fan, these axial compressors utilize high-pressure fan exhaust, which allows them to have fewer stages therein while still providing the same high pressure core airflow to the compressor chambers in the hollow fan blades.

In one embodiment, the fan of the tip turbine engine drives the axial compressor via at least one gear that increases the rate of rotation of the axial compressor relative to the fan and/or reverses the direction of rotation of the axial compressor relative to the fan.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other advantages of the present invention can be understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a first embodiment of a tip turbine engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of a tip turbine engine according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an alternate gearbox assembly that could be used in the tip turbine engine of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a partial sectional view of a tip turbine engine (TTE) type gas turbine engine 10 taken along an engine centerline A. The engine 10 includes an outer nacelle 12, a rotationally fixed static outer support structure 14 and a rotationally fixed static inner support structure 16. A plurality of fan inlet guide vanes 18 are mounted between the static outer support structure 14 and the static inner support structure 16. Each inlet guide vane preferably includes a variable trailing edge 18 a.

A fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 is mounted for rotation about the engine centerline A, fore of a core airflow passage 26 having a core airflow inlet 27. The fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 includes a plurality of hollow fan blades 28 to provide internal, centrifugal compression of the compressed airflow for distribution to an annular combustor 30 located within the rotationally fixed static outer support structure 14. The core airflow inlet 27 is aft of the fan blades 28 and leads to the core airflow passage 26, which reverses the core airflow such that it flows back toward the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 in a direction generally parallel to the engine centerline A.

A turbine 32 includes a plurality of tip turbine blades 34 (two stages shown) which rotatably drive the hollow fan blades 28 relative a plurality of tip turbine stators 36 which extend radially inwardly from the rotationally fixed static outer support structure 14. The annular combustor 30 is disposed axially forward of the turbine 32.

The fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 includes a fan hub 64 that supports a plurality of the hollow fan blades 28. Each fan blade 28 includes an inducer section 66, a hollow fan blade section 72 and a diffuser section 74. The inducer section 66 receives airflow traveling generally parallel to the engine centerline A from the core airflow passage 26, and turns the airflow from an axial airflow direction toward a radial airflow direction. The airflow is radially communicated through a core airflow passage 80 within the hollow fan blade section 72, which acts as a compressor chamber where the airflow is centrifugally compressed. From the core airflow passage 80, the airflow is diffused and turned once again toward an axial airflow direction toward the annular combustor 30. Preferably, the airflow is diffused axially forward in the engine 10, however, the airflow may alternatively be communicated in another direction.

In operation, airflow enters the engine 10 and passes between inlet guide vanes 18 and rotating fan blades 28. The rotating fan blades 28 compress the airflow and discharge high-pressure fan exhaust. A portion of the fan exhaust enters the core airflow inlet 27 and is reversed by the core airflow passage 26. The core airflow passage 26 turns the axially rearward flowing fan exhaust radially inwardly and then axially forward toward the inducer section 66. The reversed core airflow enters the inducer section 66 in a direction generally parallel to the engine centerline A, and is then turned by the inducer section 66 radially outwardly through the core airflow passage 80 of the hollow fan blades 28. The airflow is further compressed centrifugally in the hollow fan blades 28 by rotation of the hollow fan blades 28. From the core airflow passage 80, the airflow is turned and diffused axially forward in the engine 10 into the annular combustor 30. The compressed core airflow from the hollow fan blades 28 is mixed with fuel in the annular combustor 30, where it is ignited to form a high-energy gas stream. The high-energy gas stream is expanded over the plurality of tip turbine blades 34 mounted about the outer periphery of the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 to drive the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24. Concurrent therewith, the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 discharges fan bypass air (fan exhaust) axially aft to merge with the core airflow from the turbine 32 in an exhaust case 106. A plurality of exit guide vanes 108 extend inwardly from the rotationally fixed static outer support structure 14 to guide the combined airflow out of the engine 10 and provide forward thrust. An exhaust mixer 109 mixes the airflow from the turbine blades 34 with the bypass airflow through the fan blades 28.

By feeding back some of the high-pressure fan exhaust as the core airflow, the efficiency of the engine 10 is increased, without the need for an axial compressor. This reduces the overall length and weight of the engine 10 and reduces the number of parts.

FIG. 2 illustrates a second embodiment of a tip turbine engine 110 according to the present invention which additionally incorporates an axial compressor 122 for even further compression of the core airflow. Components that are similar to those described above with respect to FIG. 1 are indicated with the same reference numeral, and the description of those components and their operation is incorporated by reference here.

The axial compressor 122 is mounted between the core airflow passage 26 and the inducer sections 66. The axial compressor 122 includes an axial compressor rotor 146, from which a plurality of compressor blades 152 extend radially outwardly, and a fixed compressor case 150. A plurality of compressor vanes 154 extend radially inwardly from the compressor case 150 between stages of the compressor blades 152. The compressor blades 152 and compressor vanes 154 are arranged circumferentially about the axial compressor rotor 146 in stages (two stages of compressor blades 152 and compressor vanes 154 are shown in this example).

The axial compressor rotor 146 may be driven by the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 either directly, or via a gearbox assembly 190, as shown. The gearbox assembly 190 shown provides a speed increase between the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 and the axial compressor 122, at a ratio of 3.34 to 1, for example. The gearbox assembly 190 may include a planetary gearset, including a sun gear 192 coupled to the axial compressor rotor 146 and a planet carrier 194 coupled to the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 to provide a speed differential therebetween. A plurality of planet gears 193 (one shown) are mounted to the planet carrier 194. The planet gears 193 engage the sun gear 192 and a ring gear 195. Rotating the axial compressor rotor 146 at a rate higher than that of the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 increases the compression provided by the axial compressor 122. The gearbox assembly 190 could alternatively provide a speed decrease between the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 and the axial compressor rotor 146.

An alternative gearbox assembly 290 that reverses the direction of rotation between the fan-turbine rotor assembly 24 and the axial compressor 122 is shown schematically in FIG. 3. The gearbox assembly 290 provides second planet gears 198 coupled between each planet gear 193 and the ring gear 195 and mounted to the planet carrier 194. The gearbox assembly 290 is otherwise similar to gearbox assembly 190 as described above. The gearbox assembly 290 may also provide a speed increase or a speed decrease.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes and jurisprudence, exemplary configurations described above are considered to represent a preferred embodiment of the invention. However, it should be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described without departing from its spirit or scope. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A turbine engine comprising: a fan rotatable about an axis, the fan including a plurality of radially-extending fan blades, including at least one fan blade with a compressor chamber extending radially therein; and an airflow passage having an inlet downstream of the fan, the airflow passage leading to the compressor chamber in the at least one fan blade.
 2. The turbine engine of claim 1 wherein at least one gear changes a rate of rotation of an axial compressor relative to a rate of rotation of the fan, wherein the axial compressor is in fluid communication with an inducer section of the plurality of fan blades.
 3. The turbine engine of claim 2 wherein the at least one gear increases the rate of rotation of the axial compressor above the rate of rotation of the fan.
 4. The turbine engine of claim 2 wherein the at least one gear reverses a direction of the rotation of the axial compressor relative to a direction of rotation of the fan.
 5. The turbine engine of claim 1 wherein the airflow passage receives fan exhaust in the inlet.
 6. The turbine engine of claim 5 wherein the airflow passage turns the axially rearward flowing fan exhaust radially inwardly and then axially forward.
 7. The turbine engine of claim 6, wherein axial airflow in the compressor chamber is turned axial forward toward an annular combustor.
 8. The turbine engine of claim 1 further including an inducer leading from the airflow passage to the compressor chamber, the inducer turning core airflow from the airflow passage radially outward into the compressor chamber.
 9. The turbine engine of claim 8, wherein airflow from the airflow passage enters the inducer in a direction generally parallel to the axis.
 10. The turbine engine of claim 8 further including a plurality of tip turbine blades mounted about an outer periphery of the fan.
 11. A turbine engine comprising: a fan rotatable about an axis, the fan including a plurality of fan blades, including at least one fan blade having a compressor chamber extending radially therein to an outlet; at least one combustor proximate the outlets of the compressor chambers; at least one turbine coupled to outer ends of the fan blades aft of the at least one combustor; and an airflow passage having an inlet aft of the fan blades, the airflow passage leading to the compressor chambers in the fan blades.
 12. The turbine engine of claim 11 wherein high-pressure fan exhaust from the fan enters the inlet of the airflow passage and is guided to the compressor chambers in the fan blades.
 13. The turbine engine of claim 12 further including at least one inducer between the inlet and the compressor chambers, the at least one inducer turning axial flow from the airflow passage toward radial flow in the compressor chambers.
 14. The turbine engine of claim 13 wherein the airflow passage turns the axially rearward flowing fan exhaust radially inwardly and then axially forward toward the at least one inducer.
 15. A method of operating a turbine engine including the steps of: rotatably driving a fan having a plurality of fan blades about an axis with at least one turbine at an outer end of the fan; generating fan exhaust aft of the fan via rotation of the fan; communicating the fan exhaust through an airflow passage having an inlet aft of the fan blade, wherein at least one fan blade having a compressor chamber extending radially therein; and guiding a portion of the fan exhaust radially outwardly through the compressor chamber in an interior of the fan toward the at least one turbine.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the fan includes a compressor chamber inside at least one of the plurality of fan blades, the method further including the step of centrifugally compressing the portion of the fan exhaust in the compressor chambers of the fan blades.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of guiding includes the step of turning the portion of the fan exhaust radially inwardly and then axially forward prior to guiding a portion of the fan exhaust radially outwardly.
 18. The method of claim 16, further including the step of turning the fan exhaust exiting the compressor chamber in an axially forward direction toward a combustor.
 19. The method of claim 16, further including the step of guiding the fan exhaust to a turbine section radially outward of the compressor chamber.
 20. The method of claim 15, further including the step of guiding the fan exhaust exiting the turbine section to an exhaust mixer, wherein the fan exhaust and at least a portion of a bypass airflow of the turbine engine are mixed in the turbine engine.
 21. The turbine engine of claim 1, wherein the airflow passage extends a distance outside of the fan blades between the fan blades and the inlet.
 22. The turbine engine of claim 1, wherein an exhaust mixer is in communication with fan exhaust exiting a turbine section, wherein the fan exhaust and at least a portion of a bypass airflow of the turbine engine are mixed in the turbine engine.
 23. The turbine engine of claim 22, wherein a plurality of exit guide vanes aft of the fan blades guide the mixed airflow out of the turbine engine. 